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Hobby Boss 1/32 B-24J - Initial Observations


acresearcher

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whilst it's daft that HB have let this happen I'm looking forward to this kit, I've never polished clear plastic so this will be a new hobby adventure for me. Not worried about the other issues as I'm happy with the way the kit looks but the frosted turret is a step too far even for me so I will try to address that. It will be nice to get back to some proper old fashion modelling techniques that I think this kit will offer me :) So not only do I have a mass of research on which aircraft to build (currently thinking RAF costal command), I will also be researching how to polish clear plastic. Happy days !

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11 minutes ago, npb748r said:

..... which aircraft to build (currently thinking RAF costal command), ......

 

 

You'll be needing some accurate depth charges then!  Just sayin'........  But I might be able to help you there!!!

 

 

Tim

Edited by wunwinglow
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2 hours ago, Lee White said:

Not trying to justify the frosted parts, that is a flat-out ridiculous oversight on HB's part, but, couldn't they be fixed with some 0000 steel wool and polish?:shrug:

Why bother, looks close enough to a B-24 turret! I’m sure if your family saw it, they’d never even notice the issue.   

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That's quite a chunky U/C set when assembled even in plastic so it might be ok oob.

But those plastic inner "cores" would lend themselves pretty easily to a straight copy in brass or hard white metal.

:)

As regards the turret saga, it needs someone with the kit and the instructions to see which turrets are destined for which end according to the manufacturer of this thing and then see where the issues could be.

Looking at images of the real thing there are quite a few variations so it would be good to tie this down exactly.

 

 

Edited by PhilB
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As someone who has paid for plastic parts to be made (for our business), my best guess as to the canopy issue is that someone got confused on the instructions as to which part of the mold to texture and which to polish. That is an easy thing to mess up, on either side, even with a lot of checking of the instructions or files. They should have caught this in the check of the first pulls from the molds, but who was on that task? Did they understand every bit of the design? Many times the one who created the design isn't the last one to check the result, which leads us to this sort of situation.

 

It ian't a big deal to polish out the mold, but it takes money. Would that investment yield more sales or not? How many more? This isn't a means for a patron to obtain a thing of beauty that they have obsessed about for years (WNW, for example), with few limits on the quality imposed upon the artisans, this is a business who often cuts their losses and runs to the next shiny object. They made it good enough to get our money, and need to pay the people and make some more.

 

At some point, we have to pay for more quality if we want it. Nobody likes that. My business partner worked with a contractor on his house who bid in the normal range. They put in a beautiful sink and a great countertop, but the electrician stood in that sink with his boots on, and ground the loose screws into the surface, totally messing it up. "Can't see it from my house". He found a guy who would give him good results, but those usually involved tearing things out that people screwed up. That contractor cost him nearly triple, but delivered what he wanted. Some people get mad, saying "People are idiots, they need to fix this". I guess I can't get mad, I can just assume that all of us are idiots, myself included. That way when something beautiful and wonderful happens, or even something happens as it really should have, I can be happy.

 

At least we have a canvas on which to create something like a B-24 in our scale of choice. Do I wish Sir Peter had done this one? Not really, since I want him and Copper State to give us more WWI goodies first. (Sorry to you fans of later genres).

 

Tnarg

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2 hours ago, CharmyDown said:

Wos that then Tim?

I'm intrigued. 

I've been 3d printing a load, I'll try and post some pics, although I have our workshop Christmas do tonight, and the Wiltshire group tomorrow!! I needed them for the Swordfish Mk III, but they'll do for lots of things!

45302161_1870729029712967_61499764271952

 

45296925_1870728969712973_49213406664091

 

Tim

 

 

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It seems that there will be a need for clear turrets, just as there was for the RoG Ar-196. The way the turrets stick out, they are mini kits in and of themselves.

 I think that in due time we'll see some of these started, and guys will work out the various aspects of this kit to detail them the way they want.

 I'd also request that the " it looks enough like a B-24 turret! I’m sure if your family, friends, etc, saw it, they’d never even notice the issue." comments be throttled back. They serve no purpose, other than to be snarky, or derail the thread.

      Let's instead try to identify what is in the box, and move forward.

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Thanks Ian for sharing the sprue pics of the gear - HB has farked up another thing - the included plastic gear parts *were* supossed to be metal inserts according to the European distributor... now, we only get plastic inserts... do these companies in China even have a quality control dept? Fogged turret canopies... you gotta be kidding me... I mean, don’t get me wrong - I am very happy we have these kits, but seriously - the lack of Quality Control on the final product just leaves me shaking my head...

Cheers

Alan

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